Al-Adiyat: (9) "Does he not know when..."

"Does he not know when what is in the graves is scattered [bu'thira]?" etc. This is a threat and a warning. The interrogative hamza is for negation/reproof. The fa (so) is for conjunction with an implied [clause] necessitated by the context. The object of "knows" is omitted, and it is the operative agent ('amil) for "when" (idha), which is adverbial. That is: Does he [the human] perform the vile deeds he performs—or does he not observe—so that he does not know now what his outcome will be when those who are in the graves, from among the dead, are scattered? Mentioning "what is in the graves" [instead of "who"] is because they are, at that moment, removed from the rank of the rational.

Al-Hufi said: The operative agent for the adverbial idha is "knows." It was objected to by saying that the knowledge is not meant to occur at that [future] time, but rather in the world [the present life]. This was answered by stating that this objection only holds if the pronoun of "knows" refers to the human, and that is not necessary according to this view, as it is permissible for it to refer to Him—Exalted is He—and for the objects of "knows" to be omitted. The estimation being: Does Allah—Exalted is He—not know them [the humans] as those performing what they have performed when [the contents of the graves] are scattered? This is on the basis that "knowledge" is a metonymy for recompense; the meaning being: Does He not recompense them when they are scattered? The emphatic sentence that follows is a verification and establishment of this meaning, and it is as you see.

It was said that idha is the direct object of "knows," in the sense of: Does he not know that time and recognize its certainty? It was also said that the operative agent for it is "scattered," based on the view that it is conditional and not an adverbial addition. They said it is not permissible for "the All-Aware" (Khabir) to be the agent for it, because what follows idha cannot act upon what precedes it. The most plausible of these perspectives is what we have presented. The verb "to know" ('ilm), when it carries the meaning of "recognition" (ma'rifa), taking a single object, is widespread. The verification of the meaning of "scattering" (ba'thara) has preceded, so recall it.

'Abdullah recited it as hathara with a ha and a tha (with three dots). Al-Aswad ibn Zayd recited it as bahatha with both letters, without the ra. Nasr ibn 'Asim recited it as bathara like the recitation of 'Abdullah, but in the active voice.